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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
As told to Ben Beaumont-Thomas and Dave Simpson

‘The joy shot out of his voice’: Ray Davies, Graham Nash and others on Brian Wilson’s songwriting genius

Brian Wilson sits at the piano
Wilson at home in St Charles, Illinois, in 1998. Photograph: Paul Natkin/Getty Images

David Gray, singer-songwriter

For all the sophistication that everyone talks about, Brian never loses the thread of the song: the emotion. They have this childlike quality. These days we’d probably say he’s on the spectrum – there’s a sort of Asperger’s type innocence. He makes the lyrics and the melody speak. It’s so welcoming and without edge; it’s not part of a cynical adult world.

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